Microsoft x EY: Royalty Blockchain Tool

Microsoft has come up with a rather ambitious plan to use blockchain tech to collect royalty payments for creators, creating a secure record system across numerous computers.

This project was designed together with EY, a consulting firm. It will be used to facilitate the tracking and collecting of royalty and copyright payments—a process that involves middlemen who are often accused of shortchanging creators.

With the help of its partners, Microsoft will first make its blockchain project available in its gaming system. But in a statement, the companies stressed that it may be used in any creative industry:

“EY and Microsoft designed the solution to serve any industry where intellectual property or assets are licensed to other parties and where the creators are paid royalties based on royalty agreements.”

The usual royalty distribution process takes around 45 days. They are expecting this project to speed this up. They are hoping to see millions of transactions daily when the project is fully deployed.

“The scale, complexity and volume of digital rights and royalties transactions makes this a perfect application for blockchains. A blockchain can handle the unique nature of each contract between digital rights owners and licensors can be handled in a scalable, efficient manner with an audit trail for the participants.”